Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s largest food and support services firm, is marking British Sandwich Week after winning a prestigious award at The British Sandwich Industry Awards (Sammies).

The awards ceremony, organised by The British Sandwich Association, recognises the best of businesses in the industry. Compass Group UK & Ireland scooped the ‘Workplace and Catering Sandwich Retailer Award 2017’ for Chop Chop, its bespoke food-to-go range which includes sandwiches, salads, snack pots, paninis, toasties and fruit pots.

Chop Chop launched across the business earlier this year and is now available in hospitals, universities and retail outlets. The brand, which includes around 150 items and is being delivered to over 700 UK sites, was recognised at the awards for innovation, presentation and its wide-range of products.

The new brand brings a delicious range of food-to-go to Compass customers across the country and includes an excellent selection of delicious sandwiches. The range was developed following Compass’ ‘Eating at Work’ survey which showed the traditional lunch hour had shrunk to around 35 minutes and sandwiches remained the favourite lunchtime choice, chosen by 63% of UK workers.

The range was developed by Compass’ in-house food development and nutrition team in partnership with high profile Chefs and supplier Adelie Foods.

Louise Pilkington, Marketing Director at Compass Group UK & Ireland, said, “It’s great that Chop Chop has been recognised at The British Sandwich Industry Awards. We developed the brand following extensive research into the food-to-go market which showed lunchbreaks are getting shorter and sandwiches continued to be king.

'We worked with our own talented food team and external food-to-go experts to create a range of delicious, high quality food which gives our customers something to look forward to during their breaks.

'Winning the Workplace and Catering Sandwich Retailer 2017 is a great reward for the team’s efforts and a sign that we are delivering tasty food for our customers!”

Gethin Evans from the British Sandwich Association, said, 'The judges took into account a wide range of factors in awarding Compass Group UK & Ireland the Workplace Sandwich Retailer of the Year Award.

'The product range, presentation and innovation give consumers a hearty and healthy amount of choice while sales growth confirms that the business model and general approach are positive and sound.

'Independent data sources were used by the judges to assess performance in the qualifying period and it’s clear that the hard work and dedication is delivering.”

John Want, Marketing Director for Adelie Foods, added, “The whole Adelie Foods team is so pleased that Compass Group UK & Ireland has won this award. It recognises the hard work so many people on both sides put in to deliver such a fantastic range with step-changed quality and true innovation.

'We’re really proud of the new products we create for Compass and look forward to developing more.”